Experimental Design, Scale-Up, and Techno-Economic Test for Advancing Sustainable SC-CO2 Technology

Abstract

Supercritical fluid (SF) technologies have wide applications in different industries. These are further gaining popularities owing to their high potential towards meeting sustainable goals (green technology). However, the properties of the fluids show a strong interplay of thermodynamic and kinetic properties owing to the large number of influential parameters like pressure, temperature, flow rate of SF, particle size, presence of cosolvents, time for extraction, influence of assisting mechanisms like ultrasound or microwave, pretreatment or mix ratio of biomass subjected to extraction with their independent and interrelated influences. This review paper aims to elaborate on the parameters influencing the SF properties, significance of experimental design (screening and optimization), need for mathematical modelling for data generation and methods for data analysis. The paper further studies the use of such generated and analyzed data towards scale-up for appropriate response prediction and techno-economic feasibility study for commercial implementation. Having enough knowledge about these issues helps us apply the SF as a sustainable and green technology in different fields.